After filming "Purple Rain", in late 1985, at the end of the "Purple Rain" tour, Prince Rogers Nelson died in a tragic motorcycle accident. Considering the success of "Purple Rain" and the fact that Prince was reaching his peak at the time of his demise, those close to him made the decision to replace him with a double, heavily modified with cosmetic surgery. Government ties ensured that the secret remained buried.

The real Prince, sometime around 1980.

This double differed from Prince in several ways:

♦ He was shorter.♦ He was a bit more pale skinned.♦ He was a devout Jehovah's Witness with reservations about singing "dirty songs".♦ His voice is close, but not identical to the original's.♦ Prince had a great sense of humor. The new one didn't take a joke very well.♦ The new one is younger by several years (how many is uncertain)♦ The new one's name was Christopher.

Christopher in character as Prince

Prince still had a large catalog of music that was unreleased, and they figured they could float on that for a long time, or at least re-record it with the new Prince.

Immediately, it was announced that Prince would discontinue live performances and music videos. This was because Christopher wasn't quite ready to be seen.

Prince was almost finished recording "Around The World In A Day" when he died.

The first album featuring the new Prince was "Around the World in a Day", on the track "The Ladder". His voice is noticeably lower in pitch on this song. He also insisted on re-editing the song "Temptation" to be less "sex oriented" and turned it to a religiously-oriented song of judgment, instead of the testament to sexual indulgence it was originally.

"Hello" is a Prince song reworked into a Christopher song, and renamed to "introduce" Christopher to the world, and describe his introduction to being famous. "I tried to tell them that I didn't want to sing..." It was also a response to Christopher's hesitation to join "Live Aid" because he wasn't quite ready for an event so close to Prince's former friends and colleagues in the music industry.

The real Prince with Vanity, early 1980s.

Christopher began doing videos as Prince when the sales of "Around the World in a Day" started to stall. The first video he did was "Raspberry Beret".

Christopher-Prince credited himself as "Christopher" on the Bangles' song "Manic Monday", among others.

The Revolution didn't like the new Prince, and they actively worked to out him, but they were told that if they revealed the truth, they would be killed. It wasn't long after the new Prince's debut that the Revolution disbanded.

Early photo of the real Prince in his motorcycle gear

One of the last publicity photos Prince posed for, before his untimely death.

Clues are scattered through all albums from 1985 onward; Especially in soundtrack to Batman. "Batdance" is practically a retelling of Prince's death and the disdain that Christopher feels for his predecessor's sinful lifestyle.

To his credit, Christopher is an amazing performer, but he's not as open-minded as Prince was.

The New Power Generation was formed to cover up Christopher's inability to produce a whole album on his own (as was evidenced by the poor reviews of "Batman") - Christopher doesn't perform very much on "Diamonds & Pearls" because this was an attempt to shift the focus from Prince to the band. It didn't work out.

The cover of "The Hits/The B-Sides" is meant to be viewed sideways, to show a "dead" Prince Rogers Nelson laying in repose.

Prince lies in repose on the cover of "The Hits/The B-Sides"

The total shift in musical style was because Christopher was simply uninterested in Prince's former bare-bones Funk style, feeling more at home with R&B and Soul with more "spiritual" lyrics. While the original Prince was a devout Christian, he was not as restricted by his religious background as Christopher was. Christopher even refused to perform any of Prince's "racy" songs in concert.

Christopher spent a lot of time learning to dance like Prince from James Brown himself, who was commissioned for the job in exchange for lesser penalties for his crimes.

Christopher in a recent candid shot.

Basically, songs after 1985 that are explicitly sexual are old Prince songs that were in his catalog of unreleased tracks when he died.

"Under The Cherry Moon" was chock full of clues (both the movie and the soundtrack, "Parade".) A lot of the music in "Parade" was written by Wendy & Lisa, or adapted from Prince's older works. "New Position" is one such song that was written and demoed by Prince prior to his death, but rerecorded with Prince's vocals by the Revolution. "Sometimes it Snows in April" was about Prince. They filmed in France to avoid the American press, and American film unions. The theme of Christopher being a gigolo was to parallel the idea of him being paid to replace another man. This was entirely Christopher's project.

The whole "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince" thing was Christopher's attempt to get out from under the Prince legacy. It failed.

"Camille", the Prince alter-ego, is actually code for "naughty" songs that were performed or written by Prince. Christopher tried not to take credit for them by saying it was "Camille" who performed them.

"My Name is Prince" is a declaration of Christopher taking Prince's name and making what he sees as positive changes in Prince's reputation.

"The Black Album" is the real Prince's last album, and Christopher did everything he could to prevent its release, wanting to avoid having the "dirty" Prince back in the public eye. He said his decision to prevent its release was due to a "spiritual epiphany."

Christopher was trying desperately to "reform" Prince's image to fit his own sensibilities, but audiences weren't as interested in this toned down, more spiritual Prince. His albums sales slipped, and his response was "Graffiti Bridge", which is meant as Christopher's sequel/answer to "Purple Rain". In it, the Kid, now played by Christopher, laments people turning away from his music because he's spiritual, and wins out in the end because of his faith.

Christopher after his falling out with The Revolution

The Love Symbol as a name was another part of Christopher's attempt to break away from Prince's legacy. "The Artist" was so sick of being called "Prince" that he simply flipped out for a while and refused to acknowledge the name of his dead predecessor.

In 2001 Christopher took his religion public by having "Prince" get baptized as a Jehovah's Witness. This was sold as a "conversion" but was just a cover for the religion he'd always had, since before becoming Prince.

Christopher was having increasing problems being Warner Bros' Prince stand-in. He didn't like the direction they wanted him to go. He didn't like the contract he was under. He hated being Prince during this period in time, and was told that if he revealed the truth he would be "taken care of." He responded by writing "Slave" on his cheek and releasing albums only to fulfill his contract with Warner Bros.

He called his album "Emancipation" because he felt that he was finally stepping free from Prince's shadow, and was free to do his own thing as long as he never openly revealed the truth. However, he continued to seed his music with references to his true identity. Warner made some requests, but gave him more creative control than they previously had in these final days of his contract with them.

On May 16, 2000 Christopher stopped using the Love Symbol and returned to allowing himself to be called "Prince", once he was out from Warner's control. The company felt he had dried up as an artist, and didn't pressure him anymore. He was free to perform whatever he pleased now. He immediately started producing albums that were essentially gospel recordings, leaving his old "naughty" image behind himself forever.

In 2008, Christopher went on record that he considers homosexuality a sin- Something the original Prince, who had his performers and bandmates simulate lesbian sex on stage, would never have done.

Despite his distaste for Prince's behavior and songs, Christopher has turned into a skilled performer in his own right. For all intents and purpose, Christopher is the only Prince, now.

I know his half-naked greasy visage is the ultimate boner-killer.As far as I can tell, his sexiness is an informed attribute; never met anyone, man or woman, who wasn't slightly nauseated at the thought of him in a sexual way.

Virtual Pariah:Bonanza Jellybean: Didn't lunatics insist the same thing about Paul McCartney at one point?

Sure,But, I figure it has to have happened to someone in the public eye.

There have been enough famous people that it has to eventually.

I've had a similar theory about Kyo from the Japanese band Dir en Grey. He's the lead singer and his voice undergoes a dramatic change from their first two albums or so to when they hit it big with their later ones and while the other band members are very recognizable throughout the bands run even when slathered in makeup, Kyo looks radically different in the early music videos as opposed to the later ones.

I have absolutely no real evidence of any of this, but being a pretty big fan I just can't help but notice that the Kyo of the early days appears to be an entirely different person from the Kyo in the band currently.

Old Man Winter:I know his half-naked greasy visage is the ultimate boner-killer.As far as I can tell, his sexiness is an informed attribute; never met anyone, man or woman, who wasn't slightly nauseated at the thought of him in a sexual way.

Old Man Winter:I know his half-naked greasy visage is the ultimate boner-killer.As far as I can tell, his sexiness is an informed attribute; never met anyone, man or woman, who wasn't slightly nauseated at the thought of him in a sexual way.

Really? I've watched the man move and play guitar, and I always thought it was kinda hot.

/then again, Louis CK is on my list because the farker is funny//YMMV, I guess

nburghmatt:Old Man Winter: I know his half-naked greasy visage is the ultimate boner-killer.As far as I can tell, his sexiness is an informed attribute; never met anyone, man or woman, who wasn't slightly nauseated at the thought of him in a sexual way.

His process of leading rehearsals changed but I think that's just because he didn't actually have to have the other band members respect him or like him anymore- he just paid more money and they shut up and put up with his anal microdirection.

Okoboji:Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center was set up after the release of Prince's saucy tune 'Darling Nikki' from the 'Purple Rain' soundtrack

If that's the case, how come 90% of those trials were all metal bands?! Or was it they were the ones that gave the most effective smack-down on the PMRC? Dee Snider, in particular.

Dee Snider came across like Clarence Darrow in that smack-down. I didn't have much of an opinion of him before that appearance, but dude was the absolute best spokesman rock-n-roll could have presented.